


More Than Just Memories

by lookinginthelight



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Episode Fix-it: s02e04 The Girl in the Fireplace, F/M, Missing Scene, Post Episode: s02e04 The Girl in the Fireplace, Stand Alone, Telepathy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-23
Updated: 2013-10-23
Packaged: 2017-12-30 05:47:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1014863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lookinginthelight/pseuds/lookinginthelight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the events of Girl in the Fireplace, Rose asks the Doctor what it's like to see into someone's mind. So he shows her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	More Than Just Memories

**Author's Note:**

> I don't really care for this episode, but I'm fascinated by his telepathic abilities. I bet they'd be fun.
> 
> * * *

  
Rose had quickly grown bored of showing Mickey around the TARDIS after just one wing. She feigned a yawn, and explained that this ship could take forever to explore.

“It’s better if you find it out yourself,” she insisted. Mickey let Rose get away with it, and turned for his room. Rose headed for her room as well, but after a cautious glance over her shoulder, continued past the door towards the console room.

She found the Doctor on the jumpseat, as expected. His hands were folded between his knees and he was looking off into nowhere- his mind probably galaxies away. Rose made a point of stepping loudly onto the floor.  
No response.

She walked down and noticed a folded sheet of paper on the center console. _A letter from Reinette?_

“Doctor?” Rose slowed her pace, afraid to approach. As she reached him, she saw his eyes close, only briefly. He turned and looked up at her, but said nothing. “Doctor, you okay?” Rose was moving to sit next to him when he hopped out of the seat.

“Done showing Mister Mickey around then? You’ve navigated the TARDIS faster than anyone I’ve ever met!” He avoided her question entirely with what seemed like renewed energy. Rose looked at him, confused.  
“Don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“Act like you’re alright.”

“Oh, I’m _always_ alright.”

Rose rolled her eyes. “So what’d you do in France?” The Doctor froze. He looked down, and fell back into his seat, despondent. After some consideration, he put his arm across the back of the seat next to him and looked up at Rose, inviting her to join. Rose sat down. After watching the Doctor charge into France with no hope of return, she was apprehensive. Even though he’d heroically returned, she was a little upset with him. Rose decided to leave some space between herself and the Doctor, but it didn’t matter. As soon as she was seated, his arm curled tightly around her. He pressed his mouth into her hair and his voice was muffled.

“I was almost separated from you for a very _very_ long time.” He pulled away. “ _That’s_ what I did in France.”

Rose gave him a half-smile but inched away from him. “And Reinette?”

“Oh, she lived a happy life,” he answered in a hollow tone.

“You…” Rose stopped. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer. She wasn’t even sure that she was asking a question. “You really cared about her.”

Rose looked down. She had been right: she didn’t want to know.

“I don’t know.” The Doctor turned to face Rose abruptly. “I mean, I saw inside her mind, and…” Rose slowly started to face him again. “…And she saw inside mine,” he trailed off. “But it’s not the same as knowing someone, not really. It’s just facts, just knowledge.”

_Is he turning red?_

“I didn’t know her like…” he stopped again. “Well, like I know _you._ ” He looked away. Rose decided not to press him.

“What’s it like?”

“What?”

“Seeing into someone’s mind?”

“Oh. Wellll, it depends.” Rose waited for him to explain. “It can be rather invasive sometimes. If you don’t know or trust someone.”

“Did you trust her?”

“She looked into my mind without my permission.”

_She could know more about him than I do!_ Rose shook away the thought.“And if you do?”

“Do what?”

“If you trust someone, what’s it like?”

“Oh, it can be very intimate. But then there’s almost no need.”

“What?”

“At that point you can just ask someone what they feel or what they think, I suppose. It’s a bit different with other Time Lords- we’re kind of already like this anyway.”

“But why _almost_ no need?”

“Oh.” he smiled. “You can do fun things with it too; like share more than just _memories_.” Rose raised her eyebrows in suspicion.

The Doctor lifted his hands. “May I?”

Rose hesitated, then nodded.

“Okay, then. Stand up!” They both stood and stepped back from the console. "Now. I won’t be looking into _your_ thoughts, just sharing mine, okay?”

Rose nodded again. His fingers came up to rest gently on her temples and Rose let her eyes fall closed.

“Okay,” he breathed. “First, an easy one. Physical sensations are the easiest to manipulate.”

The Doctor closed his eyes in concentration. Rose felt a chill rush through her body. The hairs on her arm stood on end, and Rose was certain she could feel a breeze at her back. She opened her eyes. Neither her hair nor the sleeves of her shirt moved, but she felt the wind pick up around her. She began to shake slightly in just her t-shirt, but she was sure it wouldn’t have mattered if she was in a fur coat.

“Okay!” she laughed “I’m cold!”

The Doctor removed his hands and the chill disappeared with his fingers. Rose’s arms still bore the evidence of being cold, so the Doctor rubbed his hands over them until she was warm again. He smiled.

“Impressed?”

“Not yet.” Rose grinned.

“Alllllright! Another!”

Rose bowed her head slightly in anticipation. When his fingers met her head, Rose felt a cool slickness slide down her skin. She remained perfectly still, and couldn’t sense anything but a slight temperature difference. Rose wiggled her fingers, but something pushed back.

Rose moved her arm.

Resistance again.

She raised herself up onto her toes, and a weight pushed back on her shoulders, as if gravity had shifted.

_I’m underwater!_ At this thought, she began to panic, wondering if she should breathe. The Doctor’s voice, not aloud but _in her head_ , answered her.

_**“It’s okay Rose. You can breathe.”** _

Rose completely forgot about the water.

_Can he hear me?_

_**“Only if you want me to.”** _

Rose laughed in her head. _Well, I don’t want you to!_

No response.

_I guess that worked._

The Doctor pulled his hands away. Rose looked down at herself to make sure she was still dry. She looked back up at the Doctor in amazement and laughed. “Okay. Show me an emotion.”

Rose didn’t notice, but she and the Doctor had been inching closer together. When his arms moved towards her this time, her head rested on his chest. She hadn’t seen his eyes squeezed tight in concentration - emotional sensations _were_ more difficult. Rose sensed a light, airy warmth building in her chest. It slowly began to radiate outwards, relaxing her breathing, until she interrupted.

“Happiness is too easy. C’mon Doctor.”

A beat.

The warmth disappeared immediately. Rose’s heart started to race, her breathing became uncertain and unsteady. With closed eyes, she saw only black- yet shadows, darker still, lurking in the distance. Her hands tried to reach for the Doctor but wouldn’t move, and she could only think of falling and burning and _EXTERMINATE_ and a bright, piercing, yellow light- until Rose managed to push herself away.

Rose stood back from the Doctor, trying to catch her breath, and wiped away the beginnings of tears. She looked up at him. “Fear. Good one.”

He looked worried. “Hold on, hold on. I’m sorry. I’ve got one more! A complex one. A very _clever_ one."

Rose was wary.

The Doctor stepped towards her. “Trust me.”

She did.

“Okay,” Rose agreed, but she kept her distance. This time, she kept her eyes focused forward, on his chest, rather than closing them. The Doctor’s hands found their place, but Rose didn’t notice an immediate change. This time, it came more gradually.

First, the remnants of their experiment with fear were wiped away by a sense of calm that flowed from his fingertips and filled her whole body. It drained slowly down, filling her chest, her stomach, her legs, but trickled last to her arms. As it reached the very extremity of her arm, she felt fingers lace through hers. Rose looked down in shock. It felt like someone was holding her hand, but both of her hands hung empty at her side.

Rose closed her hand into a fist. The sensation disappeared. When she opened it again, the ghost of a hand in hers returned. She pointed her eyes back up to the Doctor in excitement. He was looking back at her with a smile that stretched to his eyes. Rose opened her mouth to ask a question, but the Doctor stopped her. He drew himself forward and bent his head down, so his forehead nearly met hers. Rose’s eyes closed, and she felt her heart jump. It sped up, but not like it had with fear: it raced in eagerness, in excitement, in a blast of nervous energy until it felt like _she_ had two hearts. Rose felt her lips form a smile, not entirely conscious of the wave of happiness that had overtaken her.

Another feeling was building quickly underneath. A small, quiet sadness was poking through. It did not overwhelm the happiness, but almost matched it in strength. It felt like longing and loss and a song that ends too quickly. Rose reacted to the new emotion, lifting her arms to wrap around the Doctor’s waist. When she pulled her arms tight, the gap between their foreheads closed. She felt the Doctor exhale with the contact.

As if released with the Doctor’s sigh, relief swept over Rose. It joined the combating emotions inside of her, and the three of them formed a maelstrom inside her stomach, reigniting her racing heart. Even so, she was left with an unshakeable belief that she was _safe_.

It never occurred to Rose to attempt to interpret the emotion until she opened her eyes. She saw nothing but brown eyes undeniably smiling back at her. When Rose moved her head, her nose hit his and a laugh escaped her lips.

_Has he been looking at me this whole time?_

Rose hoped he hadn’t heard that. The Doctor continued to smile at her, no sign of a reaction to her thoughts. Rose managed to maintain eye contact even when so close and couldn’t help but to smile back with equal enthusiasm. She leaned her head away from his, only to take in the crinkles that had formed around his eyes and his full-toothed grin. Her eyes flickered down in embarrassment in how much she was enjoying this, but she noticed that he hadn’t looked away from her yet.

A thought that had been building inside of Rose finally found its voice.  
 _Is this how he feels about m-_

A sudden movement from the Doctor cut off her thoughts. He dropped his hands and frowned.

Rose was certain he’d heard her. _Now what?_

“Enjoying exploring my ship, Mickey?”

Rose let go of the Doctor and turned around to see Mickey coming out of the corridor.

_Oh._

Mickey hadn’t heard the Doctor greet him. The comment was more for Rose’s benefit than anything. Mickey walked in, oblivious to the fact that he’d interrupted. Not that he would have cared.

“I’ve been walking for ages and can’t find my room.”

The Doctor tried to stifle a laugh. He failed. Rose rolled her eyes.

“C’mon. I’ll show you.” She looked up at the Doctor and gave his hand a squeeze. “‘Night.” He gave her a small nod in return.

Rose begrudgingly led Mickey out of the console room. She turned again for a last look at the Doctor, but he was gone. The paper she’d noticed earlier was abandoned on the console. After leading Mickey successfully to his room, Rose walked to her own. The effects of the last feeling the Doctor had shown her still hadn't faded.

Rose fell asleep feeling as if the Doctor was right next to her: happy, warm, and so, _so_ safe.  


* * *


End file.
